When considering that USA's first home ODI in September 2019 only drew 19 people, that too for games staged in the country's only ICC-accredited venue at the time, in Florida, the bar of expectations couldn't have been set lower for what constitutes success when it comes to getting fans to turn out for a domestic cricket event in the USA. In a sense, the only way to go was up when starting from that foundation.
That's all the more reason why the events of the last three weeks, in which the first season of the Major League Cricket T20 franchise tournament routinely played to sold-out venues in North Carolina and Texas, were all the more startling. What many people, including the organisers themselves, thought might take several seasons to gain momentum in terms of fan attendance and player buy-in wound up being more supercharged than a case of Red Bull in season one.
"My thought was we'll start slow, we'll get some fans in, we'll entertain them, we'll put out a good product, and then we'll build upon it year on year," MLC co-founder Sameer Mehta told ESPNcricinfo after the conclusion of the tournament final in Texas. "I feel like we've skipped a couple of years now in our journey and we can start doing the things now which we'd be doing two years from now."
According to MLC tournament director Justin Geale, league officials were counting on the opening night and the final to be sold out, but had no expectations as to everything in between, particularly from the seven match days in Grand Prairie, Texas. What unfolded was way beyond his cautiously optimistic expectations. On average, Grand Prairie Stadium wound up playing to more than 80% capacity across the nine match dates held at the 7,200-capacity venue, while the six-day slate of fixtures at the 3,000-capacity Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, all sold out. It meant that more than 70,000 fans - generating $2.8 million in ticket sales revenue - came through the gates to watch season one of MLC, a staggering number for any matches on US soil not involving India's routine visits to Lauderhill to play T20Is against the West Indies.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of all of this is that these numbers were possible in spite of dismal attendances for the three afternoon games held as part of scheduled double-headers at Grand Prairie Stadium, which were shoehorned into the calendar in spite of the oppressive daytime heat - temperatures regularly hovered over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (mid 40s Celsius) - in order to squeeze the tournament into a tight window following the end of the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe and before the start of the Hundred in England. Addressing that is a key priority heading into season two.
Two solutions have been floated by MLC officials, either moving the afternoon match back to an early-morning start on days where two matches need to be played, or scheduling double-headers in different cities on the same day, one in the east coast time zone in the late afternoon or early evening before coming back to Texas for a 7:30 or 8 pm start. The fact that a split-venue double-header is even plausible despite the added broadcast production costs - one source tabbed it at a minimum of $350,000 - shows how supercharged the plans are for season two just days after the conclusion of season one.
Now that MLC officials have the proof of concept that they can sell out a 7,200-seat venue multiple times in the space of a week, they aren't holding back with bigger-picture ambitions. Among those is a goal to "piggyback" off the proposed plan put forward by the ICC last week to have a 34,000-seat pop-up venue in New York City at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. If that proposal gets greenlit by NYC officials for the ICC to proceed with as one of three venues in the USA when it co-hosts the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Mehta says he is already in discussions to make it the home venue for reigning champions MI New York in MLC season two next July, immediately after the T20 World Cup final scheduled for June 30.
"That would be very very desirable for us and we have indicated as much to the ICC," Mehta said. "We'd love to collaborate with them not just on venues, but also in marketing and other aspects. If 2024 is going to be a watershed year for both MLC and the ICC, from our perspective a longer season and a much more impactful season and a season where we have some time and space to properly market and properly showcase the product. From the ICC's perspective, the World Cup is a huge event. So we'd just love to collaborate with them on venues and marketing and a few other elements. And they've indicated a reciprocal desire to want to make sure that we utilise next summer to completely evangelise the sport here."
The Texas Super Kings were by far the best-supported franchise in year one, with all their home games selling out. But the sold-out final - in which an extra 800 standing-room-only tickets were put on sale in the 48 hours before play began, to expand capacity by another 10% to accommodate a late surge in demand from MI New York fans - highlighted the biggest priority of all for the next few years of the league, according to Mehta. Long-term stadium infrastructure plans are now of paramount importance in the short term if the league is going to not only sustain but build on this year's success.
"We need home and away venues," Mehta said, alluding to the lowest-attendance match of the season between San Francisco Unicorns and LA Knight Riders at the end of the first week of matches in Texas, which saw approximately 2,500 fans turn out in Grand Prairie. "I think all the team owners saw it clearly. It's one thing to put it up in a presentation and to raise funds. It's another thing for team owners to see directly themselves that here's what happens when you have a home venue, because all American franchise sport is built around home venues and a home-and-away concept.
"So they are far more enthusiastic now and now that they've seen it firsthand about building home venues and quickly building them. So that's been the number one benefit of this season. The reception the Texas Super Kings got was frankly something that all the owners had to see for themselves to understand that now they need to put their plans into action very quickly."
There were other teething issues that the league adapted to on the fly during season one. But often they were good problems to have - and certainly not the kind that US cricket administrators have ever thought they'd encounter - such as fans waiting too long in lines to get through the entrance gates. Other fan experience enhancements were added as the season progressed, whether it was a T-shirt-launching cannon shooting freebies into the crowd during breaks in play or free giveaways to fans coming through the gates.
The fervour shown by the fans, though, is something money can't buy. For anyone who thought MLC was going to be a one-and-done afterthought, think again.